Should it Only be Drinking Water in Your Sports Water Bottle?

The water craze hit the U.S. around ten years ago, and sports water bottles are as ubiquitous as the 1950’s fedora once was.

In fact, you have to wonder if the fact that Americans are drinking from water bottles at their desks, in their cars, at their homes and at the gym has anything to do with the recent onset of bladder-control related products on television.

Still, water is a good thing, and there’s no substitute for it particularly when you’re exercising. The experts say we should be drinking eight, 8-ounce glasses of water a day, and more if we’re exercising to make up for fluids lost in sweat. The feeling of thirst actually occurs after the body is already dehydrated, so it is not something to ignore. So drink up!

The drinking water market has recently expanded to include caffeinated water: since caffeine is a diuretic, the health effects of such a drink are useless. You can drink Gatorade or other sports drinks, but mostly they are water with added salt and minerals: unless you’re training for the Olympics, you probably don’t need them.

As for coffee, tea, juice and soda, between the caffeine and the sugar, you’re doing more harm than good to that miraculous machine we like to call the body.

Go into your workout fully hydrated, and you’ll be more invigorated than you will is you’re thirsty. Exercise is easier when there’s plenty of water in your system. If your workout is a sweaty affair, bring along a sports water bottle to sip from in between sets, and make sure to have an extra glass of water after you leave the gym.